THREE CLASSICS CONSIDERED BY STEVE MCQUEEN!

Earlier this year, I mentioned the exciting news that Warner Brothers had released the DVD of Steve McQueen's film role in Ibsen's classic play "An Enemy of the People". However, along the way I discovered that Steve had considered three other classics to commit to the big screen. Here's a quick look at each one. If there's a lesson to be learned here, it is the importance of imagining all the possibilities we have before us in life to try something new.

Russian playwright and novelist Nikolai Gogol created this work in 1836 and revised six years later in 1842. This play is a true "comedy of errors". It centers on the themes of human greed, stupidity and the corrupt powers in existence at the time in Tsarist Russia.

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The Plot: A group of corrupt bureaucrats in a small Russian town led by a dubious Mayor react with terror to the news that an incognito inspector will be arriving to investigate them for any infractions of the law. These bumbling idiots react with frenzied activity to cover up their actions. Paranoia begins to set in when the news is circulated that a suspicious person arrived two weeks earlier from Saint Petersburg and is staying at the local inn. Amusingly, the suspicious person is Khlestakov, a low grade civil servant with delusions of grandeur, and he plays it to the hilt! When the towns peopl learn that Khlestakov has been charging his hotel bill to the Crown, this only works to legitimize his authenticity as the Inspector. While admittedly a stretch, this is somewhat reminiscent of James Garner's role in the film farce "Support Your Local Sheriff". The impostor enjoys his new found powers to incite fear and begins demanding and receiving massive "loans" from the Mayor while flirting with his wife and daughter. The pressure is too much for the crooked bunch, and they beg Khlestakov to fire the Mayor. Acting "overwhelmed" by the Mayor's level of corruption, Khlestakov manages to keep a straight face and announces that the Mayor will be exiled in chains to Siberia. However, he takes no action and bags more "loans" from the merchants who play along right into his hands on the promise that Khlestakov will "clean house". In the interim, he becomes engaged to the Mayor's daughter but with the risk dangerously high that he will be discovered himself to be a fraud, Khlestakov's valet advises him to leave town fast while the getting is good. This leaves the Mayor humiliated for his years of shaking down criminals and infighting ensues among all the Mayor's cronies. While they argue away, the real Government Inspector shows up and asks to see the Mayor immediately. Steve McQueen considered approaching this play as a comedy, but decided against it. Next...

The Plot: Henrik Ibsen's play about Halvard Solness, a middle-aged architect who has clawed his way to social prominence also caught Steve's eye. A single-minded empire builder, Solness is so hardened by his desire to reach the top that he has eviscerated any semblance of a meaningful life and his wife Aline becomes ruthlessly alienated and cast aside. Knut Brovik is Solness's former employer who now serves as his assistant. Facing death, Brovik, who was fleeced by Solness in his drive to be the wealthiest and the best seeks only for his son Ragnar to have more independence within the architectural firm. This creates enormous defensiveness in Solness, who fears that Ragnar represents a younger generation of architects who will displace him. So, he refuses to allow Ragnar to design houses, forcing the younger architect to contemplating a letter of resignation to start his own firm. A young woman, Hilda Wangel enters the picture. She first idolized Solness a decade earlier after he built a large church in her hometown and climbed to the top of its tower during its dedication ceremony. Afterwards, Solness had promised Hilda, then 12 years-old "a kingdom" and of course she is in town twn years later to "collect" on his promise. Greed rears its ugly head when Solness finds a sympathetic ear in Hilda who urges him to do what he must to push Ragnar Brovik to leave the firm. Solness, believing he has tamed his inner demons by ridding himself of Brovik, builds a house with a tall tower similar to the church tower in Hilda's hometown. At Hilda's urging, Solness agrees to a repeat performance in dedicating the house by climbing the tower and he tells her that the two of them will achieve "the most wonderful thing in the world" together by building "castles in the air." Solness climbs to the top of the tower, but then falls to his death. The Old Testament Biblical references of the sin of greed is ample throughout this tale. Steve ultimately decided to pass on this play. Next...


Of the three potential projects Steve considered prior to "An Enemy of the People", I personally found the play "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) to be the most compelling.

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The Plot: As "theatre of the absurd", "Waiting for Godot" (1952) follows two days in the lives of a pair of men who divert themselves while they wait in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. They claim him as an acquaintance but they neither know him. In fact, they wouldn't even recognize him if he were to actually show up! But such is life. To occupy themselves until Godot shows up, the pair engages in a monotonous cycle of eating, conversing on a wide array of subjects in an effort to remain sane: singing, exercising, even contemplating suicide—anything to sustain an existence while waiting for an event that never occurs. Among their subjects, to cite an example, the two discuss repentance as it relates to the two thieves crucified alongside Jesus, and make an observation that only one of the four evangelists ever mentions they were saved. Again, the Biblical references in this play are linked to the central theme of reconciliation with God, as well as salvation. One more than one occasion the duo cried out: "We're saved!" when they sense that Godot may be near. He never appears and the play ends with both men agreeing to finally leave, however, neither one makes the effort.

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Interestingly, Steve McQueen actually spoke with Beckett who was flattered by Steve's interest to commit his play to a fresh screen treatment. However, he reluctantly stated he could not bring himself to do so.

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Of Steve McQueen's 30 films completed in his short life I have 24 of them on DVD. A rather deliberate reader of books, I have--for better or worse--taken the same approach in getting caught up on just the films of McQueen I have not yet seen. However, it seems to me that a cursory look back at the noble themes presented in just these three examples is particularly revealing about where Steve was emotionally-speaking towards the end of his life. He sought a deeper meaning

in life than his competitive period with motorcycles and racing cars. With "An Enemy of the People", the central theme of uncommon courage and taking a stand on principle is borne out with this subtitle from a 2004 Norwegian film adaptation: "The strongest one is that who stands alone". It is, indeed, a fascinating departure from an already impressive depth of roles McQueen had amassed on film before this project. Today, with the wonderful news of public distribution by Warner Brothers of this DVD, it encourages me to wonder what goals each of us are capable of undertaking if we really set our mind to it.